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The Lie of Living Someone Else’s History

“History is only repeating itself if that is what you are constantly looking at.”

I have made this statement many times over the course of almost a decade of being a full-time speaker, and over twenty years of full-time ministry. I say it a lot because I have found it’s at the root of many places where people can get stuck.

If there is one thing I just can’t seem to be able to walk on by, it’s someone who is stuck on their path of purpose. Granted, I come from a long line of women who are “fixers”, but I also come from a long line of people who believe that it is a noble thing to help someone else even while living in a world where everyone is just trying to get ahead

So why is constantly looking at history a quick sand situation for us? Can you really be a busy person, doing a lot of good, and still get caught in a repetitive cycle where you’re just not getting anywhere?

The answer is yes, and let me tell you why and how you can shut that cycle down in your life.

Repetitive cycles are the worst. You just feel caught, and can’t believe you’re facing the same thing yet again. It’s a hard place to be, but it is also a moment where the momentum can change in your favor.

First, the fact that you recognize and now see that what you are facing is a cycle that is repeating is a tell tale sign that you can break out of it. Why? Because before you couldn’t see it for what it was, but now that you do, you can make new decisions, choose differently, go about it another way, and head off whatever typically comes next in the cycle you have experienced.

For instance, if your tendency is to fight feelings of fear or insecurity with control or anger then recognize that in your life, and take it before the Lord. Repent of fear, replace it with the truth of the Word of God, and speak the word to yourself—even if it has to be said by you, to you, over and over again. Don’t let the same mistakes rob you of your divine destiny!

Are you prone to shrink back from opposition or from being yourself out of fear of rejection? Then see it for what it is, and bring it into the light of the word of God by talking to the Lord about it. Ask Him to guide you to scriptures that will restore the truth in your thinking about who you are.

I find that most people default to being somebody else rather than going through the process of discovering who they are. It’s probably in part due to our menu driven culture. “No creative, original thought needed; choose from the options we give you.” But God didn’t give you and I a menu to choose from to find out who He made us to be. That is an intimate process that happens between you and Him. Don’t skip out on that process with Him.

Don’t settle by becoming a duplicate of who someone else is, what someone else is doing, has done, or even what someone else likes. Go find out and discover for yourself! Hidden inside that journey of discovery is the greatness that God deposited in you, but it takes a courageous heart to be genuine.

Your history is not worth repeating, and trying to be like someone else is just as bad. It is trying to live their history instead of living your own vibrant life now! So let go of what you need to, and clear space for all the new that God is bringing up on the inside of you.